🔼The name Accad: Summary
- Meaning
- Unclear but perhaps Jar, Glow
- Etymology
- Perhaps from the verb כדד (kadad), to bake or glow.
🔼The name Accad in the Bible
Accad is one of the cities from which Nimrod's kingdom extended (Genesis 10:10). It's mentioned only once in the Bible, but its legacy is enormous as under Akkadian rule all Semitic and Sumerian tribes of the Mesopotamian region were first united. Enormous amounts of tablets in the Akkadian language have been unearthed, the study of which has shed invaluable light on the study of the Hebrew Bible.
🔼Etymology of the name Accad
The name Accad is foreign to Hebrew and the word אכד (akd) does not occur in Hebrew. The scribes who wrote these stories down had considerable freedom to transliterate (or even translate) names and it's a bit of a mystery why they left the name Accad to mean absolutely nothing. At least, as far as we can tell. The Hebrew language was obviously larger than what is reflected in the Bible, and the true and perfectly viable etymology of the name Accad may simply be lost to us.
Neither BDB Theological Dictionary nor NOBSE Study Bible Name List nor HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament translates this name or hints at its etymology. The only group of words that is used in the Bible that comes close to this name is the root כדד (kdd). But that's really a long shot:
כדד
The verb כדד (kdd) isn't used in the Bible but in cognate languages it means to toil severely or be very tired. In the Bible this root appears to have to do with fire: glowing or baking. Noun כד (kad) means jar. Noun כידוד (kidod) means spark or red glow. Noun כדכד (kadkod) denotes a gem, possibly a ruby.
כיד
The verb כיד (kyd) is also not used in the Bible but in cognate language it means to strive or struggle. The noun כידון (kidon) describes an instrument of war, particularly a dart or javelin.
🔼Accad meaning
It would only be a phonetic association (probably) but through this word meaning Jar, the name Accad could be associated with the name Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian king, whose name to a Hebrew audience, may sounded a bit like A Prophet Is A Preservative Jar.
Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names sees relations to the verb אגד (agad) meaning to bind, hence fortify a city, and reads Band.